steps need to be taken.

Over 40 million Americans change their address annually, which creates formidable obstacles in maintaining a high-quality mailing list. The NCOA^Link® product makes change-of-address information available to mailers to help reduce undeliverable mailpieces before mail enters the mailstream.  The NCOA^Link process improves mail deliverability by providing mailers with current, standardized, delivery point coded addresses for individual, family, and business moves.

Full NCOA^Link contains approximately 160 million records or 48 months of permanent address changes. The limited NCOA^Link product contains approximately 60 million records or 18 months of permanent address changes.

NCOA^Link helps reduce undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail by correcting input addresses prior to mailing. Since 1986, Move Update predecessors such as ACS^TM Service, National Change of Address (NCOA) and the FASTforward® system have saved mailers millions of dollars that otherwise would have been wasted in materials and postage. NCOA^Link continues this trend and, like its predecessors, provides the following benefits to mailers:

• Reduces undeliverable mail by providing the most current address information for matches made to the NCOA^Link file

• Prevents re-mailings after address corrections are received because the address correction is applied prior to the mailing

• Reduces mailer costs by reducing the number of undeliverable mailpieces by using most current address information

• Provides the opportunity for faster product/service marketing through accurate mail delivery

In addition to change-of-address information, NCOA^Link also utilizes Return Codes to provide explanation of match and non-match status. Return Codes which indicate that a match was obtained are accompanied by a new address or undeliverable status. Return Codes which indicate a match was not obtained provide the reason a match could not be made to the NCOA^Link file. The analysis of Return Codes can help the mailer determine the deliverability of specific address records